We're in Virginia, too! We are in Fairfax County. It's a great place to homeschool. I love Jamestown, but I would avoid it in the summer. My parents were just down there last week and the heat index was 119. At Jamestown Settlement, the museum is large and air-conditioned, but to really enjoy the fort, boats, etc. I would wait until it cools off. Jamestown Historical Site's museum is smaller and to really appreciate the park you need to be walking among the ruins, talking to the archaeologists, etc. If I were you, I would read them Blood on the River or another Jamestown real aloud this summer and go in the fall. They might have homeschool programs then as well.

I bought a window feeder this past winter and keep a field guide near it. The kids have loved looking up the breed, plotting migratory patterns, etc. They enjoyed this much more than our Apologia textbook.

My daughter would love to participate!

I've tried Sonlight and TOG but am loving Biblioplan!! They have a great book selection, the read aloud choices are wonderful, and it's flexible and easy to use. I'm surprised it isn't more popular.

Renny30, Thanks for your advice. Are there any particular novel study programs I should look at, or just work through them on my own. Her reading level is about 6th grade.

Thanks so much for all the great ideas!

Thank you for your responses! I truly appreciate it. My instincts were telling me to relax and follow her lead, but I was scared that I wouldn't be guiding her in the right direction. The Bravewriter approach seems very similar to everything mentioned above with poetry, read-alouds, quality literature, etc. I guess I will sit back and let her continue to delight in reading and writing.

Thanks for your advice. My gut tells me to take a laid back approach at this point as well, I was just curious how others have handled a similar situation. And, yes, it is her spelling. I am almost ready to drop spelling at this point. I'm such a left-brained linear thinker it is hard for me to take a relaxed approach, but I don't want to squelch her love of writing.

I am new here on the forums and starting my first year homeschooling. I gave my 8yo daughter a writing lesson yesterday asking her to rewrite the following sentence to make it more descriptive using 5-6 sentences: It was a nice fall day in the forest. When I came back to check on her 15 minutes later, this was her response with no editing on my part: It was a beautiful, quiet morning in the edge of the forest, and the trees were decorated in yellows, reds, oranges, and browns. Leaves scattered across the forest floor and you could hear the bugs and creatures tip-toeing out of there (sic) burrows to find food. It wasn't really warm, in about the 60s because it was fall, but the creatures weren't bothered at all. The forest was just waking up, and the animals had a little light because if you looked just beyond the beautiful tops of the trees, you could see the bright, fall sun dawning. If you traveled past this part of the woods, you could find the stream, flowing down the piled rocks that had been tossed around for billions and trillions of years. I guess you could call it a waterfall. It made an elegant noise that never stopped as long as there was water to travel. No matter how loud you yelled, it would just keep doing its habit. And past the creek there was a noisy section of the woods. This particular part woke up right away and started hustling and bustling about. All the creatures here were noisy and energetic and raced each other to get all the food for hibernation. This section had more trees and was a little damper and smaller also. But it had more things to discover, explore and do. This was the first assignment I have given her. I knew she was a gifted writer, but I was surprised by how easily and quickly this came to her. I have just started reading the Writer's Jungle, but I feel helpless about how to structure a program for her. Any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks. I'm just not sure where to guide her.

I am new here on the forums and am starting my first year homeschooling. I am using IEW for my reluctant 5th grade son, but I have been fairly unstructured with my 8 year old daughter because she is more creative. I gave her a writing lesson this afternoon asking her to rewrite the following sentence to make it more descriptive using 5-6 sentences: It was a nice fall day in the forest. When I came back to check on her 15 minutes later, this was her response with no editing on my part: It was a beautiful, quiet morning in the edge of the forest, and the trees were decorated in yellows, reds, oranges, and browns. Leaves scattered across the forest floor and you could hear the bugs and creatures tip-toeing out of there (sic) burrows to find food. It wasn't really warm, in about the 60s because it was fall, but the creatures weren't bothered at all. The forest was just waking up, and the animals had a little light because if you looked just beyond the beautiful tops of the trees, you could see the bright, fall sun dawning. If you traveled past this part of the woods, you could find the stream, flowing down the piled rocks that had been tossed around for billions and trillions of years. I guess you could call it a waterfall. It made an elegant noise that never stopped as long as there was water to travel. No matter how loud you yelled, it would just keep doing its habit. And past the creek there was a noisy section of the woods. This particular part woke up right away and started hustling and bustling about. All the creatures here were noisy and energetic and raced each other to get all the food for hibernation. This section had more trees and was a little damper and smaller also. But it had more things to discover, explore and do. This was the first assignment I have given her. I knew she was a gifted writer, but I was surprised by how easily and quickly this came to her. I am not an educator by training, and so I would love some feedback on the quality of this, but more importantly how do I guide her in her writing. I have just started reading the Writer's Jungle, but I feel helpless about how to structure a program for her.